Where can you get a pumpkin patch, apple picking, a corn maze, and wine all in one shot? HARBES FAMILY ORCHARD! The orchard portion of the Harbes Family Farms offers all of this and more— my friends and I went on a Friday morning and there was also candle making and henna tattoos available.
Harbes Family Orchard is about a 2 hour drive from NYC (Brooklyn, to be exact.)
Admission to the orchard is about $20, which grants you access to the corn maze, a ride to the back part of the orchard, a peck of apples and live music. Sadly, live music is only available on the weekends.
The first stop after was the concession stand. They offer delicious cider donuts, kettle chips, popcorn, wine, and other drinks. I went straight for their Merlot, which was smooth, rich and had a nice woody taste to it. After that, we hit the corn maze. It was recommended that we stop by the corn maze before we picked apples so we didn’t have to lug our apples around the maze.
I’m not above participating in cheesy activities, so it’s been my dream for a long time to do a corn maze! I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but this was a maze with a purpose! Upon arrival, we were greeted by the master of ceremonies who explained how everything worked. The maze was Robin Hood themed, so we were handed a sheet a paper that had multiple choice answers. Along the way, there were stands that had a question on it. The correct answer (on the paper) moved you in the correct direction. We hit a little snag towards the end of the maze, but otherwise, moved through pretty quickly.
Leaving the corn maze, I saw that they had an amazing pumpkin patch, but it didn’t appear to be open that day! Bummer! I would’ve loved to have gotten a pumpkin… I absolutely love baked pumpkin seeds.
The next stop was apple picking. We grabbed a picker (which I never used before) and got to work! We were also made aware that there were apples in bins off to the side in case we were unable to find anything to our liking on the trees.
We all managed to fill up our peck bags and worked up an appetite expending all of that mental energy in the corn maze and physical energy picking apples, so we went searching for something delicious to eat!
Riverhead, Long Island is wine country… so there are several great wineries to choose from that offer (outdoor) dining options. The girls and I were craving pizza, so we chose to head over to Diliberto Winery and they did not disappoint!
Between the four of us, we shared a meat and cheese plate, 2 pizzas and we all did a wine tasting. Everything was delicious and the service was phenomenal. I highly recommend Diliberto’s if you’re ever in the area.
Harbes Family Orchard is located at 5698 Sound Ave, Riverhead, NY 11901
Diliberto Winery is located at 250 Manor Ln, Riverhead, NY 11901
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